The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) — Movie Review and Analysis
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — Introduction
Released in June 2021, “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” is an American-British production that lasts for one hour and fifty-two minutes. It belongs to the genres of religion, crime, horror and drama, and it’s part of the “Conjuring Universe.” In fact, we have a couple of films related to this one, such as:
The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016), Annabelle (2014), Annabelle Creation (2017), The Nun (2018), to mention some of them.
The trial of Arne Johnson inspired the movie. The film is not precisely the reproduction of what happened. But we need to remember that it’s a movie, and fiction is mandatory for our entertainment. And the film is engaging. It provides moments of pure adrenaline and pieces of beautiful cinematography and photography.
Although it is not perfect, we think it deserves your time because God, daemons and exorcisms, apparently, are with us, believe it or not. Let us explain it to you.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — The Story
In July 1981, Ed and Lorraine Warren, a couple who specialised in paranormal investigations, were helping the Glatzel. Their eight-year son David was experiencing unexplained and disturbing symptoms, which were consuming David and the whole family. So the Warren decides that it’s time for a real exorcism, and they go to document it.
But something terrible and unexpected is going to happen, and also the Warren get surprised. In fact, the event degenerates into an escalation of violence, murder, and occult rituals. The case became a worldwide event because, for the first time in history, the defence lawyer brought in front of the court the fact that a demon possessed the killer.
- Will the lawyer succeed with her defence?
- What is that Ed and Lorraine are going to prove?
- And what is your opinion about this surreal but true story?
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — Trailer
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — Review, Analysis and Insights
(SPOILERS BEGIN — Watch the movie and then enjoy it. Oh, and let us know your opinion)
It’s not a relaxing movie. We don’t have any doubts about it. But, on the contrary, The Conjuring opens our eyes and minds to the occult, black magic and that part of religiosity that we often ignore but, apparently, exists. As Ed admits, we accept the existence of God but not demons. Why? Let’s dive deeper into the movies.
1. References to the cinematography of the past
The Conjuring offers stunning pieces of cinematography and photography. The use of the lights to paint daemonic scenes or apply sound effects to increase pace and anxiety in the story is undeniable. We felt into the story, waiting for something to happen, and we wanted to know more about what was behind what we were really seeing.
The Exorcist (1973)
But something didn’t look so original or, perhaps, it was a choice of the director. But, the references to “The Exorcist” (1973) are strong. For example, when Father Gordon arrives at Glaztel’s house. The scene is very similar to what we saw during “The Exorcist.” The same during the ritual itself. The techniques remind us of the 1973 movie.
Shining (1980)
When Lorraine is busy trying to destroy the altar, Ed comes to save her. But, as soon as the daemon possessed him, Ed started to act like Jack Torrance chasing Wendy, this time with a hammer. But, again, supernatural forces take control of our characters. And the scene reminded us of the epic moment in Shining.
We appreciated how technically the cast delivered The Conjuring. But, the story, according to us, is the real Achilles’ heel.
2. The ritual and the different ending
We learn that we need a ritual and a dedicated altar to wake up the spirits, watching The Conjuring. And that not everyone can do it. Chaos pleases the daemons, and chaos is. So the Occultist (Eugenie Bondurant) needs three victims to please the daemons and “save” her soul: the child, the lover and the man of God.
Basically, classical elements of Christianity like purity, love and faith. And she targeted David (the child), Arne (the lover) and Father Kastner (the man of God). The ritual was perfectly designed but not devilishly accomplished. On the contrary, it was performed but in the opposite way. Looking a bit closer to the drama, we notice that three humans destroyed the satanic ritual.
The Child
David is the only one who can understand Arne’s mind. He helps the other understand that Arne is now possessed during the scene with her sister visiting Arne in prison. That the devil is telling Arne to kill himself, and he can’t control it.
The Lover
Love is the protagonist to defeat the occult. Lorraine supports Ed when he gets sick. She also guides Ed when the Occultist takes control of him. But the lover is also Ed when he risks his life to save Lorraine and Arne. And the same we can say about Debbie, who put herself in danger to protect her Arne. So love beats the devil, probably because it’s something that chaos can’t understand.
The man of God
It’s thanks to father Kastner that Lorraine understands the secrets behind the rituals. He knows that revealing it would put at risk his life and the one of her daughter. But, if he fails as a father and priest, Kastner can’t fail as a man of God. Therefore, he explains to Lorraine what to do to break the course and stop the chaos.
The ritual is somehow completed but not as planned. Therefore the Occultist needs to face the anger of the demons who break her bones and kill her for eternity. Her soul will always be damned.
3. The true story and the fiction
A true story inspires the film. The duty of the movie is not to document what happened but to entertain and make us think. Unfortunately, although The Conjuring delivers its purpose to engage us till the end, we feel that the story is the weakest part of the movie. Usually, horror’s film adapts the technique to say without showing.
The Conjuring, instead, bring action and superheroes powers to our characters, which diminish the credibility of the story. Furthermore, the use of magical and esoteric moves at the limits of the normal put in danger the credibility of a fact which really happened, thus leading the viewer to wonder how legitimate it is to think about the truthfulness of everything.
It’s also difficult to connect with the characters. We felt so immersed in the occult research that the juridical drama of Arne is not even in our minds. If this is the first case brought in front of a court to prove the existence of demons, we didn’t receive any input of what happened between the defence and the jury. How well could the lawyer defend such a case? It’s an important part we are missing.
And who are Ed and Lorraine? What did they do in their past to become so crucial in the movie? And who is Annabelle? We think that the director needed to provide more information to the viewers to connect much more with the story and the protagonists. The script is just sufficient, but we expected more development and more details.
4. How does the demon take control of our characters?
Lorraine explained that the most important thing is never watching the demon in the eyes. It’s an essential part that it’s not clearly defined in the movie, but it happened in the real event. For example, Arne looks the Occultist in the eyes before establishing contact with the demon.
It happened when he was attracted by the cereal box which felt in the kitchen. Ed looks the Occultist in her eyes while he is searching for Lorraine and she takes control of him. The occult needs its totem and ritual to manifest itself.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — Pros, cons and best scene
Pros
As we mentioned, The Conjuring is a nice piece of cinematography. The use of lights, sound effects and camera movements are great. The film has a pace and keeps us engaged. In addition, it introduces us to the often ignored world of the occult and how horrible and fascinating it could be. The actors are incredible and deliver credibility through their acting. Technically is a fantastic movie, but it’s missing something.
Best Scene
We loved how the cast delivered the scene of Bruno’s murder. The use of the lights, the chaos built on the stage let us experience what is in Arne’s mind at that moment. How the reality can become more than one and identifying the real one is the impossible challenge. Arne walking on the street and stopped by the police, covered in blood and confused; it’s a nice piece of cinema.
But we would like to mention the delivery of the credits at the end of the movie. Thus, we can witness with our ears the voice of the real demons in the authentic registration of the 1981 event. It’s scary. And it let us wonder about the occult much more than the movie itself.
Cons
Even if it is fictional, the story is not believable. As we mentioned, there are too many parts where the narrative is weak. We miss crucial information about the characters, explanations of the rituals, and a lack of connection with our protagonists.
Our final rating is 7.5/10
Where you can watch The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It ?
You can currently watch The Conjuring: the devil made me do it on HBO. But check this link to see where you can watch it in your country.
